Everything
by Seamelle
Summary: Korra enters the Avatar state while Howl is on Air Temple Island. He, of course, rushes to the rescue. But some battles, you just can't win and some loves just aren't meant to be. A Howrra ficlet.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So, here's my first attempt at writing in a long while. It's a Howrra two-shot, and part two will pick up directly after the end of part one. Be forewarned, there is a hint of Makorra and a decent amount of angst up ahead. That being said, I present you with **Everything**. Also, I own nothing but the words in my head and the laptop that receives them.

* * *

The pages of his book began to flutter in the breeze. He frowned and tried to shift his body in such a way that he could continue reading exactly how Lady Denko would react to finding out that the boy she had brushed arms with on the street just once, many years ago, was now stationed in the tea shop outside of her home. It was a story of love and loss, of hidden affection and brutal rejection.

A story, Howl felt, that he could relate to a little too well since he had arrived in Republic City and slowly watched Korra fall for a surly firebender with a jaded past. Now he was the one in the background, lurking in the shadows and waiting for her to come back.

The wind picked up again, and despite his valiant attempts to keep the damn thing open, Lady Denko's tale was ripped from his grasp. With a sigh that was more exasperated than annoyed, he bent down to pick the book up and - WHAM! - he was flat on his back, looking at the stars.

"Sentry three," his superior officer barked from a similiar position several feet away. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop reading those motherfu -"

The world turned upside down and night became day, blinding day, as a blue-white light overtook Air Temple Island. It faded quickly enough, leaving a stunned silence in it's wake. Even the rumble of the city, a sound that Howl was still getting accustomed to, had ceased.

And then the screaming began.

"Up, up, up!" The officer screamed, his pudgy hands grasping Howl's bicep in a vain attempt to pull him to his feet.

_Was that...? No. It couldn't be._

Still, the fine hairs on the nape of his neck refused to lay flat as he struggled to stand.

"We need to move, _now_."

There were a few seconds where Howl - bless his soul - stood in something akin to awe but much more closely related to confusion. A flurry of blue and white and grey cloaks overtook him, and the corner where he had been standing guard not an hour ago was swarming with other members of the Lotus.

"What's going on?"

"What was that?"

"Did you _see_ that?"

"Never mind seeing it, did you _feel_ that shit?"

"Enough!" A voice rose amongst the rest and everyone, even the Order member in charge, stepped back to form ranks. After a second, though, the man moved forward once more.

"Tenzin, sir. Did you -?"

"Yes and _yes_," the father of the Air Nation said. Howl felt a little bad for his chief, but was ultimately glad he wasn't in the man's shoes. He'd already been reprimanded by Master Tenzin. Twice, actually. Once for listening to a pro-bending match (he'd been wishing Korra could be there to obnoxiously cheer for whatever team caught her fancy that evening) and one for letting the aforementioned Avatar sneak out to go see one of the aforementioned matches (even though Tenzin didn't know he had purposely let Korra get off the island undetected, he seemed to _know_, you know?). For a man who was supposed to channel the element of tranquility, Tenzin sure did like to get angry.

Ah, well. Howl wasn't the one on the recieving end of this temper tantrum, and for that he was glad.

"I understand. We'll leave at once. We'll find her."

The guards around him seemed to snap into action, running off towards the posts where they'd left their weapons, the quarters where they'd left their shoes. Howl turned a few seconds after the rest, and bumped into one of the few female guards. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Sorry, I was just -"

"Daydreaming again, Howl?" The woman said in what could only constitute as a snide tone. "You'd better keep your head out of the clouds for a few minutes, otherwise we're going to get relocated _again_."

"Relocated?" Howl echoed, but she was already gone. He shouted towards the back of her head. "Relocated?"

"You're not going to be relocated, Howl." He knew that it was Tenzin before the man spoke. He just had a presence about him. "Not as long as we move swiftly and decisively. The metalbenders are already on their way."

"On their way? On their way to _what_?"

Tenzin looked at him with such pity in his eyes that, if he'd had time to think about it, Howl would have wondered if somehow the airbender _knew._ But there was no time to think, because Tenzin was speaking and Howl's world was, for the second time in ten minutes, turned upside down.

"That light... I'm afraid we have to assume that Korra has entered the Avatar State."


	2. Chapter 2

_"...Korra has entered the Avatar State."_

_Korra._

_Avatar State._

"Howl!" His commander shouted, his voice implying an order that had yet to be uttered.

Howl paid him no mind - he was too busy rushing to the corner where he'd been reading, picking up the swords that had been leaning against the cool side of the building, and running. He did not see the way his superior officer's face turned a nasty shade of rogue, or the heavy hand that descended upon the man's shoulder.

He did hear the words that Tenzin spoke, floating across the night like leaves on a breeze.

"Let him go. Our duty is to Korra. We must hurry."

Howl reached the edge of the island within seconds. He could still hear the hustle and bustle as the Order tried to get _in_ order for...whatever it was they were going to do. It would take time to get assembled, time to get their orders, time to break into ranks and groups and time to take the ferry and _time_, time that they didn't have.

Yue Bay shone back at him, the bright lights of the city reflected upon her soft waves. Any other night, Howl would have been admiring the beauty of it, thinking of how it was the perfect scene. But not tonight. Tonight, he was frantic, somewhere in between trained Order of the White Lotus Guard and a panicked friend.

Tonight, he just needed to find a way across the bay.

The minute it took for him to come to a solution lasted a lifetime. And then, the answer was there. As simple as it could be, really.

Korra had been going to practice with her teammates.

Korra had left the island alone, as she was so wont to do.

His left hand flew to his mouth before his mind had fully wrapped itself around the thought. A sharp whistle pierced the air, and the resounding bang let him grasp the solution to this problem, the problem of crossing the bay on his own.

Except he wasn't really on his own, was he?

Korra had new friends. she was making a new life for herself. She'd left Howl behind, sure. But he wasn't the only one missing her affections. That much was evidenced by the worried shouts coming from behind him, then reinforced by the warm nose that touched his palm.

"Good girl, Naga." The polar bear-dog's tail thumped once, in recognition. He had helped Korra raise the beast, after all. And while he might not share the same kind of bond as they did, Howl was the only other one who could get Naga to listen to him. Most of the time.

He clambered into the saddle on her back, fingers brushing through the coarse white fur. "Alright," he said, "Time to go. Naga, find Korra!"

At the name, the polar bear-dog's ears pricked up and almost without warning - Howl had just enough time to raise the sheathed sword above his head with one hand and grab onto the reins with the other - she bounded into the bay.

It wasn't as quick as the ferry would have been - but Howl couldn't be bothered waiting for someone to radio the dockmaster and for the dockmaster to contact the ferry operator and for the operator to get the damn thing running and...

No. This was the quicker, more efficient way of crossing the bay. Even if, he noted as the clambered out of the water not too far from the ruins of the arena, it was not the most comfortable way.

Naga's head swung left, and she pulled against the reins to head towards the golden building. Howl pulled back.

"Not now, girl. Time to find Korra. Track her. Track Korra."

The name seemed to reignite that spark in his mount, and Howl wondered - not for the first time - just how smart the animal underneath him was. Intelligence didn't matter now, though. What mattered was that Naga was, perhaps, the finest tracker on the planet with a nose a hundred times more sensitive than a wolfbat's. She kept her head to the ground and then, seemingly catching a fresh trail, they were off.

* * *

He tied Naga to a post. They were near enough now that he didn't need her nose. With a pat on the head and a slice of blubbered seal jerky from the treat bag he'd finally gotten Korra to fasten to one of the saddle straps, he left the animal behind.

Any notions Howl had of a speedy rescue were dashed after a few hundred feet. Chunks of debris, moist and steaming and he thought he saw a _foot_ sticking out from one of them, littered the ruined streets. Fires seemed to sputter in and out of life faster than he could register, and every so often the pavement beneath his feet would rumble menacingly.

He needed to find her.

So he did the logical thing. Howl disregarded the growing destruction around him and headed for what seemed to be the center ofthe disaster. A few people passed him, running in the opposite direction. A few of them were garbed in Equalist drab. But Howl paid them no mind. He was focused on his task, focused on getting to Korra and helping her, saving her from whatever had triggered this catastrophe.

Still, he kept moving.

The street he was on became jagged, a large rift dividing the lanes. There were no more people. In the distance, he could hear the sirens that signaled the metalbenders had been deployed. He wondered if the Lotus had gotten to the City yet. It didn't matter. As he crested a particularly large mound of upturned earth, Howl doubted that any of their efforts would matter.

He had reached the center of the Hell he'd been traversing. It looked like an explosion had torn the warehouse inside out, first sucking everything inside and then spewing it back at the world. It looked like a herd of elephant mandrill had ransacked the area.

It looked like the Avatar had reaped vengance for countless wrongs done to countless lives.

And Howl ran headfirst into it.

* * *

A/N: I know I said this would be a two-part series, but I decided to keep this chapter the length it was and finish up next time. Let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here is the conclusion to _Everything_. Remember when I said there was some angst, way back on part one? Well, here it is. Let me know what you think!

* * *

All four of them were on the ground. Korra, her pro-bending friends, and the Sato girl. They had all come to live on the island, and now they were all here. All - seemingly, _hopefully_ - unconscious. The remnants of a warehouse burned around him, and Howl fancied that the entire factory district might go up if the fires were left unchecked. Bodies of what he could only assume were Equalists were strewn around the area, broken and bent and sprawled in horribly unnatural poses. He had no hope that they were just unconscious.

But none of that was his main concern. No, he was a member of the elite Order of the White Lotus, and he had but one goal. Keep the Avatar safe. That was, and always would be, his main concern.

So he went to her. Howl dodged a bit of falling debris, leaped over the fallen firebender. He ran to Korra, and his chest was burning with so much anxiety that it was a wonder he couldn't breathe fire like his brother. Who probably would have been invited on this jaunt, instead of being left behind with dusty old books.

He felt for a pulse.

It was weak, it was faltering. It spluttered like the shadows around him, but thank the spirits, it was _there_.

"Korra," he whispered. Then a little bit louder. "Korra! Korra, wake up. We need to get out of here, we need to get back to the island. Korra!"

She didn't move, and Howl felt the familiar panic begin to rise in his throat. His voice was choking with it, the words catch in his throat as he called her name over and over and over again.

"Korra, get up!"

She had a pulse, sure. But who knew what that meant? Korra was alive, but not by much and Howl didn't know what was _wrong_ with her. He couldn't see any visible signs of injury, but there were things that could go wrong beneath the surface. Wasn't that what Amon's entire movement was about? Hurting people on the inside, ripping out a crucial part of their being?

"Ko -"

This time, his voice faltered as the reality dawned upon him. Things could go wrong beneath the surface. Equalists everywhere. The Avatar State, so violent and reckless, was over without a probably cause. Korra, the strongest person he had ever met, was limp in his arms. Could Amon have -

A flash of blue, the color of a clear summer day, swept away the storm that was threatening to engulf him. A small smile graced Korra's lips as she reached up to touch his cheek.

"Howl? What are you...?"

"Korra," he sighed. And then he was weeping and hugging her tight to his chest, so tight that he feared he might break her again but he couldn't bear the thought of letting go. In the distance, he heard the distinctive growl of Naga's bark.

"Howl?" He pulled away, just a little. "What's going on? Why are you here? What..."

Korra trailed off, and the smile fell as she absorbed the wreckage around her, the prone bodies of her friends. Howl didn't know if they were alive, but that didn't matter because Korra _was_ and she was okay and she was looking at him with those eyes, bright and luminous as a panda lily under a full moon and -

"_Howl_!" he heard her say.

_Squelch_, he felt, as something slid beneath his ribs.

Her eyes widened, he saw, even as he began to slump forward.

Copper, he tasted, as the blood began to fill his mouth.

And electricity, the sharp tang of lightning, he smelled as an Equalist shocked Korra back to the ground.

"I told you, Avatar. I'm going to save you for last." A voice, cool and smooth and everything Howl had dreaded it would be, floated our from the non-existant space behind him. He wanted to turn, to face the man behind the revolution, do _something_, but the rapid cold overcoming his body told him that would be an impossibility. "You will have your bending until the very end. Until then, I will take everything you hold dear from you."

Then black shoes, black pants entered his vision and stepped in the space separating Howl from Korra. Amon bent down, and Howl got a brief glimpse of the white mask before the man cupped Korra's chin so she would be forced to look at him.

Howl wanted to scream. He wanted to rage, to unsheath the sword across his back and strike this man down. He did nothing, even as he felt rough hands pull him back up into a kneeling position, and the man in the mask jerked Korra's face sharply to the side.

She had a clear view of Howl now, her first confidant, her first friend, her (possible) first love. Howl met her eyes. He tried to send out a signal of strength, that everything would be okay. He was sure that he failed in this, too.

"I will make you watch as I take them from you, one -" Howl felt another _squelching_ in his lower back, but there was no pain this time. " - by - " _Squelch_ " - one." One last _squelch_, and this one was punctuated by a _scritch_ as whoever held the knife twisted it inside him and the blade scraped against bone.

"He is only the first. Each time, you will feel helpless. Unable to do anything as the ones you love are taken from you, as helpless as nonbenders are against the tyrants that rule this world. And, maybe, eventually, you will understand."

The shoes disappeared. Korra's arms were released first, and her body slumped to the ground. _Paralyzed_, a part of his braind whispered. _Chi blocked_, another supplied. And, finally, as he was allowed to fall back to the unforgiving concrete, a third voice. _Unable to heal_.

Some part of him was aware of the footsteps fading. Most of him was focused on pushing warm, frothy air in and out of his lungs.

"Howl," Korra whispered.

It took him a second, but he was able to stave off the encroaching black dots and focus on Korra's face. He tried to smile.

"Howl," she repeated. "You shouldn't have come. You shouldn't have..You're...I'm so s-sorry."

There were tears running down her cheeks, he noted with a dull kind of surprise. Over a decade of friendship, and he could count the times he'd seen Korra cry on one hand. That wasn't a very good sign.

He tried to smile again and at the wince that crossed Korra's features, decided that wasn't working so well. "Hey," he said. It came out as a gurgle. He tried again, ignoring the way his tongue felt like a deflated police blimp. "Hey. I did what was right. I did my duty. I don't regret that."

This, it seemed, was the wrong thing to say. The tears seemed to increase - if she had no bending, how on earth was she controlling all that water? - and Korra's voice was suddenly almost as watery as his.

"I never...I never wanted you to do your duty! Duty to the Avatar, that's bullshit! I - I never wanted you to...never wanted you to _die_ for me!"

"My duty wasn't to the Avatar," he said, and even though the black dots were back, he finally managed a smile. "My duty was to you, Korra. It was always just you."

He didn't quite catch her response, because the black dots seemed to have some kind of soundproofing ability as well, and Howl was suddenly very, very alone.

* * *

And there you have it. Don't hate me too much, this was always how this story was supposed to end. I've seen a fair bit of Korra dying for Mako/Bolin/Asami/Howl/everyone and some Mako/Bolin/Asami/everyone but Howl dying for Korra, so I decided that - no matter how much I love him, it was time for our favorite OWL guard to die.

Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!


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